Court to again consider parole for Saaremaa arsonist whose fire killed two people

Harju County Court will consider, in the second half of October, a parole request from Gevin Kütt, who was convicted in 2016 of arson in an apartment building stairwell in the village of Aste on Saaremaa island that resulted in two deaths. The hearing is scheduled for October 20. Estonia's court system has previously denied Kütt parole on multiple occasions, most recently last year.

The conviction

Kütt, now 33, had his sentence take legal effect in October 2016, when he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Accounting for a previously unserved sentence, his total term of imprisonment reached 12 years, 3 months and 24 days.

At the time of the crime, Kütt was free on parole and was under conditions barring him from using alcohol or drugs and from associating with people who had criminal convictions. In total, he had been criminally punished three times and administratively punished four times.

Circumstances of the crime

According to the prosecution, on the night of July 3, 2015, while spending time together in an apartment building in Aste, Kütt struck a young man, set fire to a nearby bicycle, and attempted to set fire to a moped. When a 36-year-old man intervened, Kütt struck him as well.

Later, prosecutors say, Kütt threatened a local girl with violence and then set the building on fire, throwing a burning chip packet under the staircase. Stored under the staircase were baby strollers, bicycles, cardboard boxes and other flammable items.

The fire killed two residents of the building — men aged 63 and 55 — who were asleep at the time and died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Two other elderly people were injured. In total, 19 people were in the building at the time, including children and elderly residents with disabilities.

Kütt had a prior history of criminal offenses. In 2012 he received a suspended sentence for stealing alcohol and cigarettes from stores, illegal weapons possession, and fuel theft. In 2013 he received an actual prison term for stealing construction tools and assaulting a man near a bar in Kuressaare, where, according to the prosecution, he struck the man on the head with a bottle in February 2013 and continued kicking him after he fell.